March 13, 2025 • 25 mins
The shocking story of how simply washing hands could have saved countless women's lives—and why doctors refused to do it.
Meet Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian physician working in Vienna in the 1840s who made a disturbing observation: women were dying at alarming rates after childbirth in doctor-run maternity wards, while those assisted by midwives usually survived. The difference? Doctors were performing autopsies before delivering babies—without washing their hands in between.
When Semmelweis implemented a mandatory hand-washing protocol using chlorinated lime solution in 1847, the results were immediate and dramatic. Mortality rates plummeted from over 18% to near zero within months. Yet instead of celebration, his discovery met with ridicule and hostility from the medical establishment. Many physicians were offended at the suggestion they should wash their hands between procedures, considering it an affront to their status as gentlemen.
The tragic irony of Semmelweis's story is that after years of fighting for acceptance, his mental health deteriorated. In 1865, colleagues tricked him into visiting an asylum where he was forcibly detained. During a struggle with guards, he sustained injuries that became infected, and he died—from the very type of preventable infection he had spent his life fighting—at just 47 years old. His hand-washing practices were largely abandoned, and mortality rates immediately increased sixfold.
Decades would pass before Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister established germ theory, vindicating Semmelweis's work too late for him to witness. Join us as we explore this heartbreaking medical saga that reminds us how institutional resistance to change can cost countless lives, and how scientific progress sometimes comes at great personal sacrifice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
https://www/pbs.org/newshour/health/ignaz-semmelweis-doctor-prescribed-hand-washing
By - Dr. Howard Markel
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
oh, hey there, oh hey there.
Where over there, where hello I?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
am a history buffoon.
How about you?
Speaker 1 (00:22):
hello, I am also a buffoon of history.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
We are the history buffoons.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I'm Bradley.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I'm Kate.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
How are you today, Kate?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I'm good, wonderful.
This is actually the origin ofweird.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
It sure is.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
We are trying to find .
Speaker 1 (00:36):
The weirdest origin stories?
Yes, also.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Or where did weird start?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah, like seriously we don't know, or where did
weird start?
Yeah, like seriously, we don'tknow.
Did it start with you?
I don't know.
Did it start with me?
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Let's find out.
It most definitely started withyou.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Do you believe in Sorry?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
That's going to be a running topic for a while.
We're going to talk about.
Yes, do tell Ignaz Semmelweis,he actually helped prevent a
deadly childbirth complication,okay called child bed fever
child bed fever.
Have you heard of it?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I don't think I have.
So did the child get a fever inbed?
Kind of kind of I mean childbed fever leads me to believe
that.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
It's actually also known as purperol fever, purple
fever, purperol, purperol,puperol, puperol, pew, pew, pew,
purperol.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Okay, you need to stop with your fucking
variations of this.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Childbed fever is a postpartum infection caused by
bacteria.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Gotcha.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Gotcha Okay.
So today is largely preventablewith proper hygiene and
antibiotics, Sure.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
But back in the day, not so much, not so much.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I mean we're talking pre-germ theory, pre-antibiotics
.
It was a common deadlycomplication, so that was like
common deadly complication.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
So that was like what Complication, like five years
ago?
No, what time frame are wetalking?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
The 18th 19th centuries.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Okay, I kind of figured that yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
So, within about three days of giving birth,
patients developed abdominalpain fevers.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
So like the mothers did yes, or the babies did, the
babies Okay, no fevers.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
So like the mothers did, yes, or the babies did, the
babies.
Okay, no the mothers, no thebabies.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
So confused right now .
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Women.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
So men were immune.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Women.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Women.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Developed abdominal pain.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Fevers.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Abscesses.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
And other signs of infection, okay, and it would
often progress to bloodpoisoning and death.
Sounds fantastic, is that funny?
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I mean it kind of is because you still didn't answer
my question, so it's the mothers.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Okay, mortality rates yeah were really high, ranging
from 20 to 30 percent for, like,sporadic cases, but then 70 to
80 percent during epidemics holyfuck, so epidemic.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
So is this something that could be caught?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
then yes, oh wow yes, so many prominent women died
from this, including henry theeighth's.
So many prominent women diedfrom this, including henry the
eighth's wife, jane seymour.
I know of her.
Yes, yes, she died of childbedfever.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah, I did not realize that was her cause of
death.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yes, and it was a mystery before evidence-based
medicine figured out right whatit was, but theories ranged from
imbalances in bodily fluids tobad air.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Bad air.
Yes, like you lived in, nevermind Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Several factors contributed to the rise of child
bed fever epidemics in the 18thand 19th centuries.
Prior to the 18th century, maledoctors rarely delivered babies
unless complications came up.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Because the women couldn't handle it.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
No, because they were doctors.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
No, that's not why.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
The other kind was midwives.
Right so they didn't have thatkind of like.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
No, because midwives were very popular back then.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Yeah, I mean they're still around today, but not as
prevalent.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
So there were two changes that occurred in the
1700s.
More women gave birth inhospitals, sometimes due to
social programs for the poor.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
And these hospitals were staffed by either midwives
or doctors.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
And medical education incorporated autopsies more
frequently.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Right, okay.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
So more women in hospitals, more autopsies.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
That's the correlation.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Those were the two factors that happened in the
1700s, so these changes hadunintended consequences.
What's the word Consequences?
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Consequences.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Doctors and students.
Can you please say it normally,so I can stop laughing?
Consequences.
Thank you, consequences.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Consequences Jesus Christ Sorry, sorry, sorry,
sorry.
Consequences Consequences JesusChrist Sorry, sorry, sorry,
sorry.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
So doctors and students handled bodies of women
who died from child bed fever,often with bare hands.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I hope they had to live with dignity.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
And pathogens weren't understood at the time.
So there was a lack of hygieneand hand washing wasn't
practiced yet.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
No.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And cervical gloves.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Cervical or surgical Surgical gloves, because that
would be weird if it wascervical gloves.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Surgical gloves.
There it is, weren't inventedyet.
It wasn't invented in 1888.
Nope, 1889.
How were you a year off whenyou said that I'm tipsy?
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So surgical gloves weren't invented until 1889.
Or, if you're actually proper,1889.
Okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So the combination of factors led to like a dramatic
increase in childbed fever?
Okay, okay, so the combinationof factors led to like a
dramatic increase in childbedfever.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Particularly in hospitals.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Several hospitals experienced outbreaks.
Hospitals weren't seen as safeplaces to give birth.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Didn't because there was a pretty big mortality rate
there, right, huge yeah.
Like you go to the hospital,you fucking die.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
You die, yes, which is just wild, because you think
you're going to someplace tohelp you right there, right,
huge, yeah, like you go to thehospital.
You fucking died a lot of times.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Yes, which is just wild, because you think you're
going to some place to help youyes, so some doctors recognize
the link between autopsies andchildbed fever right or patient
to patient transmission right,and they did publish their
theories and solutions.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Okay, so in, so in 1746, Alexander Gordon of
Scotland suggested doctors couldtransmit the disease and
recommended disinfectantmeasures.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Isn't it funny?
Because they probably in theirheads thought there's no way I
can transfer that.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I'm a doctor.
Doctors did believe that.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Well, some did.
I'm sure there's some that did.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
In 1829, Robert Collins of Dublin implemented
chlorine fumigation and cleaningprotocols, significantly
reducing cases.
Isn't that wild?
And in 1843, Oliver WendellHolmes Sr of Boston presented a
paper advocating for handwashing and separation of
obstetric duties and autopsiesAutopsies.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Did he?
Did he puk the cod Havadjad?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
He probably did.
Oliver Wendell Holmes SenyaSenya His paper offered Okay you
can stop with that.
Practical solutions to preventchild death fever, but it was
initially dismissed by themedical community.
Some doctors ridiculed Holmes'theories.
When did we get to the South?
Speaker 1 (08:13):
When did we get to the South?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Why I do declare why I do declare that some doctors
ridiculed Holmes theories, can I?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
get an amen.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Amen Attributing to high bed, high child bed fever.
Alright, stop, oliver WendellHolmes Sr.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
His paper offered practical solutions to prevent
child bed fever, but it wasinitially dismissed by the
medical community.
Some doctors ridiculed Holmes'theories, attributing high
childbirth fever rates to justbad luck wow, ignorant fucks
that brings me to ignis symbolvice ignis symbol vice okay.
(08:58):
Idol vice, oh sorry.
No symbol vice Edelweiss, ohsorry.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Edelweiss no.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Semmelweis.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Brujaha.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
He was born on July 1st 1818.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Oh, that's a good year.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
He was the fifth out of ten.
Semmelweis studied law first,but then became a doctor in
Vienna.
Because why not?
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Because I mean, got nothing else to do.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Unable to find work in internal medicine, he pursued
obstetrics and in 1846,semmelweis joined the Vienna
General Hospital as an assistantin the maternity clinic.
The hospital had two clinics,oh.
First clinic was staffed bydoctors and medical students who
(09:42):
also performed autopsies Okay.
And medical students who alsoperformed autopsies Okay.
The second clinic staffed bymidwives and their students.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Okay.
Okay, semmelweis noticed adisturbing difference in
childbed fever rates between theclinics, so can I guess the
midwife and student one had less.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yes, midwife clinic had 1% to 2% mortality rate,
where the doctor's clinic had 5%to 10% mortality rate.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
That is quite significant.
It is, I mean, that's literally.
Yeah, that's five times more.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Women in labor would plead to be admitted to the
midwife's clinic or giving birthon the street rather than the
doctor's clinic.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Isn't that fucking wild?
Yes, that's just.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Some of us even noticed that the street births
had lower motility rates.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
See, that is just fucking amazing.
Yes, because you can't tell methose were cleanly, cleanly.
No, I mean, there was nogodliness going on there, no,
there wasn't.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yes Because you can't tell me those were cleanly,
cleanly, no.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
I mean, there was no godliness going on there?
No, there wasn't, wow Okay.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
He was deeply disturbed.
Can you blame him by thisinvestigation?
I?
Speaker 1 (10:55):
don't blame him.
Yeah, you don't say.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
He excluded overcrowding as a cause, since
the second clinic was alwaysmore crowded.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Sure because more people wanted to go there.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
He eliminated climate because the two clients were in
close proximity to each other.
He altered the position inwhich mothers gave birth.
So instead of on their back ontheir knees.
Or side-lying or something likethat.
He proposed that priests givingless rights in the clinic were
(11:30):
terrifying women after birth,causing them to develop the
fever, Like they would hear thatthe priest was here with his
bell ringing.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Bring out your dead.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Exactly Women would hear that and potentially panic,
thinking that it was them.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Yeah, they were dying .
Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
So a turning point came, when his colleague Caleb
nope, Jacob Kolechka, Kolechka.
Died of a condition resemblingchild bed fever after an autopsy
mishap.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
A student had poked him with a scalpel.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
After cutting into.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yes, the autopsy yes.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
The disease.
Yes, wow, so Semmelweis noticedthat so how do you actually
just poke him with a fuckingscalpel Like oh hey, doc, yeah,
wow, that's fucked up, yeah,okay.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
So Semmelweis noticed that, unlike midwives, medical
students routinely performedautopsies and vaginal
examinations.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Because those go side by side.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
So he theorized that cadaverous particles from
autopsies were transmitted topatients by the doctor's hands.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah, because you know they're fucking dead Icky.
Yeah, continue Sorry.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Icky, icky, icky.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Icky icky eh.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
In May 1847, he implemented a mandatory hand
washing protocol.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Which is probably thought fucking witchcraft at
the time.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, it was chlorinated lime solution.
I said wine Wine Chlorinatedlime solution.
I said wine Wine Chlorinatedlime solution, which was a
disinfectant after autopsies,gotcha.
So he did this because he foundthe chlorinated solution worked
best to remove the putrid smellof infected autopsy tissue.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
And it's funny because that was the initial
reason for it was just to getrid of the smell, not to
actually clean your hands.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
It was just to eliminate a smell, right, and it
destroyed the poisonous orcontaminating cadaveric agent
hypothetically being transmittedby this material.
But the impact was immediate.
Child bed fever mortality inthe doctor's clinic plummeted
from 18.3 percent in april to2.2 percent in june I mean,
that's literally two months, yes, and it drops 16 percent, yes,
(13:57):
and by august, another twomonths later, zero deaths, for
the first time since autopsiesbecame routine weird, isn't it?
despite the success of handwashing, he couldn't fully
explain why hand washing worked,leading to doubts of his theory
.
So he revised his theory,suggesting that cadaverous
(14:19):
particles could come from anydecaying matter, not just human
bodies.
Right, so most establisheddoctors rejected his findings.
They clung on to the miasmatheory, which is disease caused
by bad air those people are, Iunderstand, not enough
(14:40):
information.
Yeah fuck, they're dumb somedoctors were offended at the
suggestion that they should washtheir hands.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I know better.
Like you think, I put my handssomewhere they shouldn't have
been.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
I am a doctor, I'm a gentleman doctor.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yeah, I do declare, sir, my hands are clean, sir.
By all means.
I believe you are wrong.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
But access to clean water wasn't always guaranteed
in here.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Well, she took time, that is true, that is true.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
So Semmelweis documented the continued high
child bed fever rates andattacks on his theories.
So, despite the resistance,semmelweis powered the fuck
through, symbolized powered thefuck through.
So in 1848 he mandated cleaningbirthing instruments with
(15:35):
chlorinated lime, furtherreducing mortality rates weird.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
With a constant rejection he faced, he became
increasingly frustrated andcombative well, because people
kept going against what he wassaying, even though the results
were fucking proving them.
Mm-hmm, so cool.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
So in 1849, he had like a two-year contract with
this hospital and it ended andthe hospital offered him a
position without a cadavercontract.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Okay, and he felt sour about that offered him a
position without a cadavercontract.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Okay, and he felt sour about that.
He left Vienna for Hungary in1850 without a farewell.
He was just like I'm out.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Adios, au revoir.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Uh-huh, and in 1851, he became head of obstetrics at
St Ruckus Hospital, which was anhonorary position, and he
achieved lower childbed feverrates.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
And for everyone who doesn't know what obstetrics is
it's baby delivery.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Yeah, yes, but he virtually eliminated the disease
.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Weird.
I mean, it seems coincidental.
There's no way he could havebeen part of this.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
During 1851 to 1855, only eight patients died from
childbed fever.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, weird.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Out of 933 births.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
That's pretty good fucking odds.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Eight in four years.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
I mean that's two a year.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Out of 933 births.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
So 933 births four years.
I mean that's over 200 births ayear out of 933 births.
So 933 births four years.
I mean that's over 200 births ayear and you lost two per year.
That's pretty fucking good.
I mean, there's today.
We'll probably lose that, yeah,honestly, from other
complications of course not fromwhat we're talking about, but
(17:24):
still that's pretty good,fucking odds so, even though
some devices, hand washingmethods, dramatically reduce
these deaths, they weren'texactly a hit.
Well, no, because people had todo an extra step.
Yeah, and they're like but but,sir, I'm a doctor the leading
doctor at the university of pestIn Budapest.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
His name is ED Burley .
He clung to the belief thatchildbirth fever came from
unclean bowels.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Not unclean air, no bowels.
He upgraded his theory.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
His cure was harsh purges.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Of the buttocks.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Which, you can imagine, isn't exactly pleasant.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
No, so he had basically given him a
colonoscopy.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Enemas.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
That's the word I was looking for.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Nasty harsh purging enemas.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
There's a really good tool song called Enema, anyways
.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Okay.
So Burley finally kicked thebucket in 1854 and Semmelweis
saw his chance to become a newprofessor.
Ooh, Unfortunately, an oldrival from Vienna named Karl
Braun also applied.
But Braun, despite not evenspeaking Hungarian, won the
favor of the Hungarian doctorsand got the job.
(18:38):
However, Samuel Weiss was notgoing to give up easily.
Something Weiss.
Thanks to some interventionfrom Vienna, the vote was
overturned and eventually helanded the position in 1855.
You wouldn't know it, but hishand-washing protocols once
(18:58):
again brought impressive results.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Weird.
I mean, it just seems to be aproven fucking thing, but okay.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Despite his success, Semmelweis turned down an offer
to become a professor in zurichin 1857 okay maybe he was tired
of fighting the medicalestablishment, or maybe he just
found love, because that seemed.
He married a woman oh yes, andthey had a family of five
children oh, wow despite thesuccess of hand Semmelweis'
(19:26):
abrasive personality and hostagetactics backfired.
Yeah, he didn't go about it theright way In 1861, semmelweis
published a book about hishandwashing discoveries and
unfortunately some foreignreviews weren't exactly glowing.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Feeling defeated, frustrated, Semmelweis lashed
out at his critics in a seriesof very angry open letters.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Because they didn't have emails back then.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
He called prominent doctors names like irresponsible
murderers and ignoramuses.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Oh, not the ignoramus .
That's the worst.
That cuts you to the quickright there.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
And he challenged them to like a public debate,
demanding they all convert tohis theory.
Okay, challenged them to like apublic debate, demanding they
all convert to his theory.
Around the same time,semmelweis' behavior started to
raise eyebrows.
He became increasinglywithdrawn from his family,
spending more time away,sometimes with a prostitute, and
his wife noticed changes in hispersonality.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
So is there any like speculation as to why?
Speaker 2 (20:27):
So it was suggested that he had early onset
Alzheimer's.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
So there could have been something there, just not
100% exactly what it was.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
They also think it could have been syphilis.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
I was going to say that actually.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
And some believe it was emotional burnout from years
of stress, of fighting foracceptance.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
I mean, I understand that, but it seems a little more
than that, but okay.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
In 1865, semmelweis' mental state deteriorated.
Yep, a colleague tricked himinto visiting a mental asylum
under false pretenses.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
That's bullshit.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
And there Semmelweis realized his situation and
attempted to escape.
That's bullshit.
That seems really helpful, ohmy God.
Well, yeah, two weeks later,semmelweis died at the age of 47
(21:28):
.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Well, yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
From a gangrenous wound, likely caused by an
infection, during his strugglewith the guards.
Irony is, he died of aninfection that was preventable
with proper care.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Yep, wow, that's horseshit.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Semmelweis's work, though unrecognized in his
lifetime, laid the groundworkfor the future.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
For modern day.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
yeah, yes, so immediately.
Mortality rates increasedsixfold.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, because no one fucking cared about his shit.
This fucker's gone.
He's not preaching his shit.
Let's go back to our old ways.
And all of a sudden, lots morepeople died.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
The physicians of Budapest did nothing, said
nothing, no inquiries, noprotests, Wow that's bullshit,
and almost no one, either inVienna or Budapest, seems to
have been willing to acknowledgeSemmelweis' life and work.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
That's terrible.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
It wasn't until the 1880s, after the work of Pasteur
and Lister, that infectioncontrol became standard in
obstetrics.
Okay, but these researcherswere unaware of Semmelweis'
contributions.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Of course.
Why would they know that?
Yeah, honestly.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Semmelweis' story wasn't fully recognized until
the late 19th century.
Wow, that's wild.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
It's weird, it is because you would think it's.
I mean, obviously, in our dayand age it's such a simple thing
.
Wash your fucking hands.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Wash your hands.
Simple as that.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Yeah, and obviously there's a little.
There's more to it, obviously,with the cleaning of the
utensils and supplies and suchand whatever.
But like, literally, just washyour fucking hands and they're
like I'm a doctor, sir, I do nothave to wash my hands, my
reputation is clean, but yourhands aren't, you fuck.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
You just touch a dead body, yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
You literally touch a decaying fucking body.
Let's go check this chick'svagina out.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
And have a baby.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Yeah, and that's going to fucking go well.
No one said ever Unless you'refrom that fucking time and
you're a fucking idiot.
I mean, I get it, things evolve, practices come into play and
so on and whatever, but it'slike wash your fucking hands,
man, for the love of God.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Well, that was Ignaz Semmelweis and his chlorinated
lime treatment.
He was a fucking pioneer.
He was a pioneer.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
He really was in the terms of cleanliness and I'd
have to say godliness.
Well, I suppose.
All right, buffoons.
That's it for today's episode.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Buckle up, because we've got another historical
adventure waiting for you.
Next time Feeling hungry formore buffoonery, or maybe you
have a burning question or awild historical theory for us to
explore.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Hit us up on social media.
We're History Buffoons Podcaston YouTube X, instagram and
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gmailcom.
We are Bradley and Kate.
Music by Corey Akers.
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Speaker 1 (24:41):
Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to
rate and review us.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Remember the buffoonery never stops.
Love it, love it, Love it.
oh, hey there, oh hey there.
Where over there, where hello I?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
am a history buffoon.
How about you?
Speaker 1 (00:22):
hello, I am also a buffoon of history.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
We are the history buffoons.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I'm Bradley.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
I'm Kate.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
How are you today, Kate?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I'm good, wonderful.
This is actually the origin ofweird.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
It sure is.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
We are trying to find .
Speaker 1 (00:36):
The weirdest origin stories?
Yes, also.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Or where did weird start?
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah, like seriously we don't know, or where did
weird start?
Yeah, like seriously, we don'tknow.
Did it start with you?
I don't know.
Did it start with me?
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Let's find out.
It most definitely started withyou.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Do you believe in Sorry?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
That's going to be a running topic for a while.
We're going to talk about.
Yes, do tell Ignaz Semmelweis,he actually helped prevent a
deadly childbirth complication,okay called child bed fever
child bed fever.
Have you heard of it?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
I don't think I have.
So did the child get a fever inbed?
Kind of kind of I mean childbed fever leads me to believe
that.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
It's actually also known as purperol fever, purple
fever, purperol, purperol,puperol, puperol, pew, pew, pew,
purperol.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Okay, you need to stop with your fucking
variations of this.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Childbed fever is a postpartum infection caused by
bacteria.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Gotcha.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Gotcha Okay.
So today is largely preventablewith proper hygiene and
antibiotics, Sure.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
But back in the day, not so much, not so much.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
I mean we're talking pre-germ theory, pre-antibiotics
.
It was a common deadlycomplication, so that was like
common deadly complication.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
So that was like what Complication, like five years
ago?
No, what time frame are wetalking?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
The 18th 19th centuries.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Okay, I kind of figured that yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
So, within about three days of giving birth,
patients developed abdominalpain fevers.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
So like the mothers did yes, or the babies did, the
babies Okay, no fevers.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
So like the mothers did, yes, or the babies did, the
babies.
Okay, no the mothers, no thebabies.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
So confused right now .
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Women.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
So men were immune.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Women.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Women.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Developed abdominal pain.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Fevers.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Abscesses.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
And other signs of infection, okay, and it would
often progress to bloodpoisoning and death.
Sounds fantastic, is that funny?
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I mean it kind of is because you still didn't answer
my question, so it's the mothers.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Okay, mortality rates yeah were really high, ranging
from 20 to 30 percent for, like,sporadic cases, but then 70 to
80 percent during epidemics holyfuck, so epidemic.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
So is this something that could be caught?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
then yes, oh wow yes, so many prominent women died
from this, including henry theeighth's.
So many prominent women diedfrom this, including henry the
eighth's wife, jane seymour.
I know of her.
Yes, yes, she died of childbedfever.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah, I did not realize that was her cause of
death.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Yes, and it was a mystery before evidence-based
medicine figured out right whatit was, but theories ranged from
imbalances in bodily fluids tobad air.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Bad air.
Yes, like you lived in, nevermind Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Several factors contributed to the rise of child
bed fever epidemics in the 18thand 19th centuries.
Prior to the 18th century, maledoctors rarely delivered babies
unless complications came up.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Because the women couldn't handle it.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
No, because they were doctors.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
No, that's not why.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
The other kind was midwives.
Right so they didn't have thatkind of like.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
No, because midwives were very popular back then.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Yeah, I mean they're still around today, but not as
prevalent.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
So there were two changes that occurred in the
1700s.
More women gave birth inhospitals, sometimes due to
social programs for the poor.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
And these hospitals were staffed by either midwives
or doctors.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Right.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
And medical education incorporated autopsies more
frequently.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Right, okay.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
So more women in hospitals, more autopsies.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
That's the correlation.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Those were the two factors that happened in the
1700s, so these changes hadunintended consequences.
What's the word Consequences?
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Consequences.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Doctors and students.
Can you please say it normally,so I can stop laughing?
Consequences.
Thank you, consequences.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Consequences Jesus Christ Sorry, sorry, sorry,
sorry.
Consequences Consequences JesusChrist Sorry, sorry, sorry,
sorry.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
So doctors and students handled bodies of women
who died from child bed fever,often with bare hands.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I hope they had to live with dignity.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
And pathogens weren't understood at the time.
So there was a lack of hygieneand hand washing wasn't
practiced yet.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
No.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
And cervical gloves.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Cervical or surgical Surgical gloves, because that
would be weird if it wascervical gloves.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Surgical gloves.
There it is, weren't inventedyet.
It wasn't invented in 1888.
Nope, 1889.
How were you a year off whenyou said that I'm tipsy?
Speaker 1 (06:12):
So surgical gloves weren't invented until 1889.
Or, if you're actually proper,1889.
Okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So the combination of factors led to like a dramatic
increase in childbed fever?
Okay, okay, so the combinationof factors led to like a
dramatic increase in childbedfever.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Particularly in hospitals.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Several hospitals experienced outbreaks.
Hospitals weren't seen as safeplaces to give birth.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Didn't because there was a pretty big mortality rate
there, right, huge yeah.
Like you go to the hospital,you fucking die.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
You die, yes, which is just wild, because you think
you're going to someplace tohelp you right there, right,
huge, yeah, like you go to thehospital.
You fucking died a lot of times.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Yes, which is just wild, because you think you're
going to some place to help youyes, so some doctors recognize
the link between autopsies andchildbed fever right or patient
to patient transmission right,and they did publish their
theories and solutions.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Okay, so in, so in 1746, Alexander Gordon of
Scotland suggested doctors couldtransmit the disease and
recommended disinfectantmeasures.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Isn't it funny?
Because they probably in theirheads thought there's no way I
can transfer that.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I'm a doctor.
Doctors did believe that.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Well, some did.
I'm sure there's some that did.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
In 1829, Robert Collins of Dublin implemented
chlorine fumigation and cleaningprotocols, significantly
reducing cases.
Isn't that wild?
And in 1843, Oliver WendellHolmes Sr of Boston presented a
paper advocating for handwashing and separation of
obstetric duties and autopsiesAutopsies.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Did he?
Did he puk the cod Havadjad?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
He probably did.
Oliver Wendell Holmes SenyaSenya His paper offered Okay you
can stop with that.
Practical solutions to preventchild death fever, but it was
initially dismissed by themedical community.
Some doctors ridiculed Holmes'theories.
When did we get to the South?
Speaker 1 (08:13):
When did we get to the South?
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Why I do declare why I do declare that some doctors
ridiculed Holmes theories, can I?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
get an amen.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Amen Attributing to high bed, high child bed fever.
Alright, stop, oliver WendellHolmes Sr.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
His paper offered practical solutions to prevent
child bed fever, but it wasinitially dismissed by the
medical community.
Some doctors ridiculed Holmes'theories, attributing high
childbirth fever rates to justbad luck wow, ignorant fucks
that brings me to ignis symbolvice ignis symbol vice okay.
(08:58):
Idol vice, oh sorry.
No symbol vice Edelweiss, ohsorry.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Edelweiss no.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Semmelweis.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Brujaha.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
He was born on July 1st 1818.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Oh, that's a good year.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
He was the fifth out of ten.
Semmelweis studied law first,but then became a doctor in
Vienna.
Because why not?
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Because I mean, got nothing else to do.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Unable to find work in internal medicine, he pursued
obstetrics and in 1846,semmelweis joined the Vienna
General Hospital as an assistantin the maternity clinic.
The hospital had two clinics,oh.
First clinic was staffed bydoctors and medical students who
(09:42):
also performed autopsies Okay.
And medical students who alsoperformed autopsies Okay.
The second clinic staffed bymidwives and their students.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Okay.
Okay, semmelweis noticed adisturbing difference in
childbed fever rates between theclinics, so can I guess the
midwife and student one had less.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yes, midwife clinic had 1% to 2% mortality rate,
where the doctor's clinic had 5%to 10% mortality rate.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
That is quite significant.
It is, I mean, that's literally.
Yeah, that's five times more.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Women in labor would plead to be admitted to the
midwife's clinic or giving birthon the street rather than the
doctor's clinic.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Isn't that fucking wild?
Yes, that's just.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Some of us even noticed that the street births
had lower motility rates.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
See, that is just fucking amazing.
Yes, because you can't tell methose were cleanly, cleanly.
No, I mean, there was nogodliness going on there, no,
there wasn't.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yes Because you can't tell me those were cleanly,
cleanly, no.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
I mean, there was no godliness going on there?
No, there wasn't, wow Okay.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
He was deeply disturbed.
Can you blame him by thisinvestigation?
I?
Speaker 1 (10:55):
don't blame him.
Yeah, you don't say.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
He excluded overcrowding as a cause, since
the second clinic was alwaysmore crowded.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Sure because more people wanted to go there.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
He eliminated climate because the two clients were in
close proximity to each other.
He altered the position inwhich mothers gave birth.
So instead of on their back ontheir knees.
Or side-lying or something likethat.
He proposed that priests givingless rights in the clinic were
(11:30):
terrifying women after birth,causing them to develop the
fever, Like they would hear thatthe priest was here with his
bell ringing.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Bring out your dead.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Exactly Women would hear that and potentially panic,
thinking that it was them.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Yeah, they were dying .
Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
So a turning point came, when his colleague Caleb
nope, Jacob Kolechka, Kolechka.
Died of a condition resemblingchild bed fever after an autopsy
mishap.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
A student had poked him with a scalpel.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
After cutting into.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yes, the autopsy yes.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
The disease.
Yes, wow, so Semmelweis noticedthat so how do you actually
just poke him with a fuckingscalpel Like oh hey, doc, yeah,
wow, that's fucked up, yeah,okay.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
So Semmelweis noticed that, unlike midwives, medical
students routinely performedautopsies and vaginal
examinations.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Because those go side by side.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
So he theorized that cadaverous particles from
autopsies were transmitted topatients by the doctor's hands.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah, because you know they're fucking dead Icky.
Yeah, continue Sorry.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Icky, icky, icky.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Icky icky eh.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
In May 1847, he implemented a mandatory hand
washing protocol.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Which is probably thought fucking witchcraft at
the time.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, it was chlorinated lime solution.
I said wine Wine Chlorinatedlime solution.
I said wine Wine Chlorinatedlime solution, which was a
disinfectant after autopsies,gotcha.
So he did this because he foundthe chlorinated solution worked
best to remove the putrid smellof infected autopsy tissue.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
And it's funny because that was the initial
reason for it was just to getrid of the smell, not to
actually clean your hands.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
It was just to eliminate a smell, right, and it
destroyed the poisonous orcontaminating cadaveric agent
hypothetically being transmittedby this material.
But the impact was immediate.
Child bed fever mortality inthe doctor's clinic plummeted
from 18.3 percent in april to2.2 percent in june I mean,
that's literally two months, yes, and it drops 16 percent, yes,
(13:57):
and by august, another twomonths later, zero deaths, for
the first time since autopsiesbecame routine weird, isn't it?
despite the success of handwashing, he couldn't fully
explain why hand washing worked,leading to doubts of his theory
.
So he revised his theory,suggesting that cadaverous
(14:19):
particles could come from anydecaying matter, not just human
bodies.
Right, so most establisheddoctors rejected his findings.
They clung on to the miasmatheory, which is disease caused
by bad air those people are, Iunderstand, not enough
(14:40):
information.
Yeah fuck, they're dumb somedoctors were offended at the
suggestion that they should washtheir hands.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I know better.
Like you think, I put my handssomewhere they shouldn't have
been.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
I am a doctor, I'm a gentleman doctor.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yeah, I do declare, sir, my hands are clean, sir.
By all means.
I believe you are wrong.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
But access to clean water wasn't always guaranteed
in here.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Well, she took time, that is true, that is true.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
So Semmelweis documented the continued high
child bed fever rates andattacks on his theories.
So, despite the resistance,semmelweis powered the fuck
through, symbolized powered thefuck through.
So in 1848 he mandated cleaningbirthing instruments with
(15:35):
chlorinated lime, furtherreducing mortality rates weird.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
With a constant rejection he faced, he became
increasingly frustrated andcombative well, because people
kept going against what he wassaying, even though the results
were fucking proving them.
Mm-hmm, so cool.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
So in 1849, he had like a two-year contract with
this hospital and it ended andthe hospital offered him a
position without a cadavercontract.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Okay, and he felt sour about that offered him a
position without a cadavercontract.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Okay, and he felt sour about that.
He left Vienna for Hungary in1850 without a farewell.
He was just like I'm out.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Adios, au revoir.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Uh-huh, and in 1851, he became head of obstetrics at
St Ruckus Hospital, which was anhonorary position, and he
achieved lower childbed feverrates.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
And for everyone who doesn't know what obstetrics is
it's baby delivery.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Yeah, yes, but he virtually eliminated the disease
.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Weird.
I mean, it seems coincidental.
There's no way he could havebeen part of this.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
During 1851 to 1855, only eight patients died from
childbed fever.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, weird.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Out of 933 births.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
That's pretty good fucking odds.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Eight in four years.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
I mean that's two a year.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Out of 933 births.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
So 933 births four years.
I mean that's over 200 births ayear out of 933 births.
So 933 births four years.
I mean that's over 200 births ayear and you lost two per year.
That's pretty fucking good.
I mean, there's today.
We'll probably lose that, yeah,honestly, from other
complications of course not fromwhat we're talking about, but
(17:24):
still that's pretty good,fucking odds so, even though
some devices, hand washingmethods, dramatically reduce
these deaths, they weren'texactly a hit.
Well, no, because people had todo an extra step.
Yeah, and they're like but but,sir, I'm a doctor the leading
doctor at the university of pestIn Budapest.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
His name is ED Burley .
He clung to the belief thatchildbirth fever came from
unclean bowels.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Not unclean air, no bowels.
He upgraded his theory.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
His cure was harsh purges.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
Of the buttocks.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Which, you can imagine, isn't exactly pleasant.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
No, so he had basically given him a
colonoscopy.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Enemas.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
That's the word I was looking for.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Nasty harsh purging enemas.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
There's a really good tool song called Enema, anyways
.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Okay.
So Burley finally kicked thebucket in 1854 and Semmelweis
saw his chance to become a newprofessor.
Ooh, Unfortunately, an oldrival from Vienna named Karl
Braun also applied.
But Braun, despite not evenspeaking Hungarian, won the
favor of the Hungarian doctorsand got the job.
(18:38):
However, Samuel Weiss was notgoing to give up easily.
Something Weiss.
Thanks to some interventionfrom Vienna, the vote was
overturned and eventually helanded the position in 1855.
You wouldn't know it, but hishand-washing protocols once
(18:58):
again brought impressive results.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Weird.
I mean, it just seems to be aproven fucking thing, but okay.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Despite his success, Semmelweis turned down an offer
to become a professor in zurichin 1857 okay maybe he was tired
of fighting the medicalestablishment, or maybe he just
found love, because that seemed.
He married a woman oh yes, andthey had a family of five
children oh, wow despite thesuccess of hand Semmelweis'
(19:26):
abrasive personality and hostagetactics backfired.
Yeah, he didn't go about it theright way In 1861, semmelweis
published a book about hishandwashing discoveries and
unfortunately some foreignreviews weren't exactly glowing.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Of course.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Feeling defeated, frustrated, Semmelweis lashed
out at his critics in a seriesof very angry open letters.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Because they didn't have emails back then.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
He called prominent doctors names like irresponsible
murderers and ignoramuses.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Oh, not the ignoramus .
That's the worst.
That cuts you to the quickright there.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
And he challenged them to like a public debate,
demanding they all convert tohis theory.
Okay, challenged them to like apublic debate, demanding they
all convert to his theory.
Around the same time,semmelweis' behavior started to
raise eyebrows.
He became increasinglywithdrawn from his family,
spending more time away,sometimes with a prostitute, and
his wife noticed changes in hispersonality.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
So is there any like speculation as to why?
Speaker 2 (20:27):
So it was suggested that he had early onset
Alzheimer's.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
So there could have been something there, just not
100% exactly what it was.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
They also think it could have been syphilis.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
I was going to say that actually.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
And some believe it was emotional burnout from years
of stress, of fighting foracceptance.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
I mean, I understand that, but it seems a little more
than that, but okay.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
In 1865, semmelweis' mental state deteriorated.
Yep, a colleague tricked himinto visiting a mental asylum
under false pretenses.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
That's bullshit.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
And there Semmelweis realized his situation and
attempted to escape.
That's bullshit.
That seems really helpful, ohmy God.
Well, yeah, two weeks later,semmelweis died at the age of 47
(21:28):
.
Speaker 1 (21:29):
Well, yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
From a gangrenous wound, likely caused by an
infection, during his strugglewith the guards.
Irony is, he died of aninfection that was preventable
with proper care.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Yep, wow, that's horseshit.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Semmelweis's work, though unrecognized in his
lifetime, laid the groundworkfor the future.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
For modern day.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
yeah, yes, so immediately.
Mortality rates increasedsixfold.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, because no one fucking cared about his shit.
This fucker's gone.
He's not preaching his shit.
Let's go back to our old ways.
And all of a sudden, lots morepeople died.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
The physicians of Budapest did nothing, said
nothing, no inquiries, noprotests, Wow that's bullshit,
and almost no one, either inVienna or Budapest, seems to
have been willing to acknowledgeSemmelweis' life and work.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
That's terrible.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
It wasn't until the 1880s, after the work of Pasteur
and Lister, that infectioncontrol became standard in
obstetrics.
Okay, but these researcherswere unaware of Semmelweis'
contributions.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Of course.
Why would they know that?
Yeah, honestly.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
Semmelweis' story wasn't fully recognized until
the late 19th century.
Wow, that's wild.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
It's weird, it is because you would think it's.
I mean, obviously, in our dayand age it's such a simple thing
.
Wash your fucking hands.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Wash your hands.
Simple as that.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Yeah, and obviously there's a little.
There's more to it, obviously,with the cleaning of the
utensils and supplies and suchand whatever.
But like, literally, just washyour fucking hands and they're
like I'm a doctor, sir, I do nothave to wash my hands, my
reputation is clean, but yourhands aren't, you fuck.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
You just touch a dead body, yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
You literally touch a decaying fucking body.
Let's go check this chick'svagina out.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
And have a baby.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Yeah, and that's going to fucking go well.
No one said ever Unless you'refrom that fucking time and
you're a fucking idiot.
I mean, I get it, things evolve, practices come into play and
so on and whatever, but it'slike wash your fucking hands,
man, for the love of God.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Well, that was Ignaz Semmelweis and his chlorinated
lime treatment.
He was a fucking pioneer.
He was a pioneer.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
He really was in the terms of cleanliness and I'd
have to say godliness.
Well, I suppose.
All right, buffoons.
That's it for today's episode.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Buckle up, because we've got another historical
adventure waiting for you.
Next time Feeling hungry formore buffoonery, or maybe you
have a burning question or awild historical theory for us to
explore.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Hit us up on social media.
We're History Buffoons Podcaston YouTube X, instagram and
Facebook.
You can also email us athistorybuffoonspodcast at
gmailcom.
We are Bradley and Kate.
Music by Corey Akers.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Follow us wherever you get your podcasts and turn
those notifications on to stayin the loop.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to
rate and review us.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Remember the buffoonery never stops.
Love it, love it, Love it.
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